Ashley Kerwin
Ashley Kerwin (born: 1988 in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian woman who used to attend Degrassi Community School. Ashley is the daughter of Kate and Robert Kerwin. She is also the step-daughter of Jeff Isaacs and step-sister of Toby Isaacs. She is best friends with Ellie Nash and good friends with Paige Michalchuk and Terri MacGregor. Ashley was portrayed by Melissa McIntyre. Character History Season 1 Ashley is briefly seen in the two part series premiere, along with Terri. In the third episode, Family Politics, her mother, Kate, has recently remarried and moved in with Jeff, Toby's dad. Ashley and Toby do not get along because Ashley is popular and "perfect", while Ashley finds Toby annoying and that he monopolizes Kate's time, not to mention the school year difference (Toby is in 7th grade while Ashley is an 8th grader). When Ashley is set to win School President, Toby gets his friend, J.T to run against her, just for the sake of annoying her. This conflict permeates into their home life and things reach breaking point when Ashley bribes J.T with eighty (Canadian) dollars to quit. However, she makes peace with Toby and wins the election (fairly). The year's first dance is coming up. Ashley gives Terri a makeover for the school dance to give her a bit more self-esteem (as Terri believed she was ugly and fat). Because she's School President, she has to arrive early at the dance, leaving Paige alone with Terri. Paige manipulates Terri's vulnerable emotional state and gets her drunk. Ashley is furious with Paige for taking advantage of her. Ashley is also dating the equally popular Jimmy Brooks, but some issues arise in their relationship. Days before their 8 month anniversary, Dr. Sally, a very popular sex expert, deemed "The Sex Lady," comes to the 8th Grade health class to talk to them about sexual issues that teenagers normally face. Afterward, Spinner pressures Jimmy to have sex with Ashley just as Paige is doing so with her. In English class, Ms. Kwan assigns the class roles for Romeo and Juliet to do a brief class presentation/performance of certain parts of the play. Jimmy and Paige are playing Romeo and Juliet which makes Ashley insecure. She confides in Terri, who tells her not to worry, but she doesn't listen and insults her ("I can't believe I'm taking advice from someone who hasn't even been on a date!") She makes "plans" with Jimmy anyway. When they are actually in the situation they planned for, they confess that they aren't ready for sex yet and that it was more about pressure than what they actually wanted to do. Ashley tells him of her insecurities, but he reassures her that he likes her, and not Paige. During Parents' Day and a school open house, Ashley and Paige vie for the attention of Toby's mom, who happens to be a Hollywood casting agent. It turns out that she was more interested in Terri than the other two girls. Ashley and Paige are both left in disappointment and dismay. However, Ashley is happy for Terri. Ashley also had troubles with the school's Vice President, Liberty. Liberty was sick of not having enough say, and asked Ashley if she could do the morning announcements. Originally, Ashley refused and when she let her do it, Liberty froze, and ran away in humiliation for being so confident, yet showing her speaking fears on the school television. Feeling terrible, she gave Liberty another, better chance ("after I graduate") and she did the announcements from then on. Ashley's dad is back in town and she's proud to show him off at school. Her teachers and friends are impressed with him, including Paige who comments that he's hot "for his age". Ashley has hopes of her parents' remarrying, confused about why they even divorced in the first place since they got along very well. When Ashley asks her mom why they really broke up, she reluctantly tells her it's because he's gay. The following day, Ashley goes to school upset and before she can tell Terri of her troubles, Paige rudely butts into the conversation. She tells Ashley the possible "real reason" for the divorce (which IS the "real" reason), without actually realizing she was telling the truth. Thinking that Paige was being Paige, Ashley throws chocolate milk into her face and tells her to mind her own business, then stomps away. Paige is near tears as she confesses to Terri that her older brother is gay and she was actually trying to be serious with Ashley. Later on, Ashley has a talk with her dad and she tries to accept the fact that he's gay. However, she gets angry with him when he tells her that the real reason he left her mom was because he was having an affair with one of his long-time friends. Soon after, Ashley confesses to Terri that she intends to disown her father, but Terri suggests she reconsider, as Terri's mother passed away and she wanted Ashley to be grateful that she even has a choice as to whether she wants her father in her life or not. Ashley ends up reconciling with him later. Later on, Jimmy begins spending too much time with Ashley and is at her place for dinner almost every night. Her friends convince her to dump him and she proceeds to, despite Toby's protests but when he ends up by himself on his birthday, Jimmy leaves a message saying how Ashley's family are all that he's got. Ashley decides to stay with him, and they reconcile the next day. When rumors begin to circulate that Mr. Armstrong, the math, gym, and health teacher, might be a pedophile because he is spending "extra time" with Liberty, she informs her of the rumor. It is later shown that the reason he is doing so is because she needs extra help with math, as she has a learning difficulty relating to the subject. For Degrassi's talent show, Ashley teamed up with Terri under the name, "Two Girls and a Keyboard" but Terri felt the act needed some fun and that she wasn't being listened to, so she invited Paige to the band. Paige wanted the band to be called "Paige Michalchuk and the Sex Kittens" and wanted to mix Ashley's song. Ashley refused and wished the band to be called, "Three Girls and a Keyboard". Terri, interested in the supernatural world, especially tarot cards and Ouija boards, was asked to decide by using the card set and lied about a card's meaning. Ashley figured things out and quit but re-entered when Terri and Paige were a hit at the talent show. They called the band PMS and Ashley agreed to give Terri more of a say. Ashley's "perfect" world came crashing down when she invited Terri, Paige and Hazel over for a slumber party whilst Kate and Jeff were away. Toby had also invited J.T and Sean, with the former bringing along ecstasy. Sean went to replace it with aspirin, when Ashley consumed it and invited Jimmy and his friends over. Soon, more people came over and Ashley was out of control. She began dancing and made out with Sean, even though Sean didnt know that Ashley was on ecstasy, and this was after his fight with Emma. Ashley then publicly dumped Jimmy, telling him everything she thought of their relationship. She tried to apologize afterwards, but he did not want to see her. Ashley also called Paige a "hag," insulting her looks and personality. Everyone, except Terri, left the party, disgusted at Ashley's behavior. The next day, Ashley wakes up sick from her high. Nobody answers her phone calls. Spinner comes with a box of Ashley and Jimmy's "stuff" from the relationship. He bluntly tells her that Jimmy, and probably everyone else, wants nothing to do with her. Things don't seem to improve as Kate and Jeff arrive to a messy house, obvious that a party happened there. Terri and Toby comfort a broken-down Ashley as the parents call for a "family meeting", as Toby and Ashley are obviously in trouble. But her parents' wrath are the least of Ashley's worries, as she has also lost her friends and her reputation. Season 2 As Ashley commenced her freshman year, it seemed like "a burning pit of fire". Every time she tried to reach out to her old friends, they were cold and scathing towards her. However, Ashley apologized to Jimmy and Paige and was accepted again. Jimmy hoped that he would get back together with Ashley, and his hopes seemed to be coming true when she flirted with him. Things took a turn for the worse when Sean asked her out and she accepted. Terri warned her about Jimmy, but Ashley shook this off and accidentally insulted her. Terri also misheard her apology. When everyone finds out about her and Sean, Jimmy calls her a "slut," as that's the name for "girls who cheat on their boyfriends," and everyone turns on her. Even Terri chooses Paige and Hazel over Ash. On Sean's date, Ashley notices Paige and Hazel nearby and worries what they will think. When she gets over them, she worries what Sean thinks of her, ruining the date. And then Ashley has no friends and is alone. Ashley later becomes a goth when she befriends Ellie Nash. Their friendship is terrific until Ellie gets a third ear piercing and Ashley decides to get a bellybutton ring. Ashley is afraid of needles, though, and hasn't told her parents. Ashley freaks out at the last minute and decides not to get one. Ashley tells Ellie that she was trying to be cool, but Ellie says she doesn't have to be as they are best friends. When another talent show swings around, Paige invites Ashley to be a member of PMS and makes peace with her. Ashley writes something "real" (as Paige had requested) and she writes "Poor Thing" about rape just as Paige is getting over her own. Paige gets into a fight with Ashley and runs out, but Ashley runs after her and comforts her, promising not to use the song. Ashley also gets Paige counseling sessions with Ms. Suave. However, Dean turns up at the competition, and Paige decides to use Ashley's song, which makes him uncomfortable enough to leave. They are given an honorable mention, and Ashley begins to win her old friends back. Her relationship with Toby continued to grow when Toby began to use laxatives to make the wrestling team. Ashley saw him using them and he tried to make her not care, but she still did and spoke with J.T about it. In the end, Toby stopped using them. Ashley and Jimmy still have feelings for each other but don't know how to tell each other. Jimmy invites Ashley to his party and they become a couple again. Soon after, Ashley begins playing music for Jimmy but he doesn't seem to understand it. They are studying Taming of the Shrew and Craig is Ashley's partner. It is clear Jimmy doesn't like Ashley's goth look as he keeps a picture of her from last year in his locker even though she gives him a more recent one. Ashley changes her style for a day, which shocks Craig, who accepts her for who she is. Ashley decides she doesn't want to change herself for Jimmy and asks which picture he liked better of her. Jimmy tells her, "The old one." They then break up, but there's no major ill-will. Craig and Ashley both crush on each other until he asks her to the Hawaiian-themed dance and she accepts. When Craig begins hanging out with his abusive father, Ashley is unsettled so he introduces them over dinner at a restaurant. Albert insults Ashley and can't even remember her name. Albert begins to be abusive again, and dies in a car crash. Ashley tries to be there for Craig but he is happy and enters them in the luau. When Craig breaks down, Terri comforts him and returns to dance with Ashley. Season 3 The year begins happily for Craig and Ashley, until Paige's Sweet 16th. Days before, Ashley tells Craig that she loves him, and he is shocked and wants to have sex. Ashley says she won't until she knows that he loves her back. Craig has some difficulty trying to tell her, and she almost breaks up with him for it, but he ends up telling her through song. They then agree to have sex after Paige's party, but Craig tells Spinner, who makes crude gestures. Being a private person, this annoys Ashley. When she cancels their plans, they get into a huge argument at the party and break up. The next day, however, Ashley apologizes and they both say that they love each other, despite Craig hooking up with Manny in their time apart. When Ashley is out of town, Craig cheats her on with Manny and continues to do so for a few months. During Christmas, Ashley and Craig are singing a duet at the Christmas Talent Show and happier than ever. Ashley peaks at Craig's Christmas presents and discovers a figure skater bracelet. When Craig is about to break up with Ashley for Manny, she gives him a top of the range guitar that her grandfather used to own and so he loses heart. When Manny is applying Ashley's make up before the talent show, Ashley notices the bracelet and asks her about it. Manny says that she didn't want her to know that Craig had moved on so quickly, when Ashley reveals they're still together. Onstage, Ashley isn't singing and when Craig asks what's wrong, she slaps him across the face and breaks up with him. Manny follows suit. When Manny becomes impregnanted with Craig's baby, she confides in Paige who tells Ashley when she is having a bad day. Ashley then sees the two with a Baby Names Book and announces the pregnancy to the whole cafeteria. Later, a Battle of the Bands competition comes to Degrassi and Ashley enters the contest along with Ellie, Paige and Hazel under the name, "Hell Hath No Fury" but so does Craig's band, "Downtown Sasquatch". "Hell Hath No Fury" essentially becomes an anti-Craig band, with their T-shirts having a cross over his face and their song, "Mr. Nice Guy" about Craig. Craig finds out and they get into an argument in class, with Ashley mocking him and Craig offending her. At the contest, Craig decides to apologize to Ashley in song, "Dust" and wins the competition. Ashley also forgives him, saying "nice lyrics. they were just right". Despite forgiving Craig, Ashley is still hurting from the emotional trauma he left her with, coupled with her dismay over Terri in a coma. Paige and Spinner, having borrowed Dylan's car to skip school, find Ashley at home, in bed, with Kate remarking "Ashley's sanity has left the building". Eventually, the two get her to come with them. They do a lot of rebellious things, such as eating lunch and running off without paying. Ashley wants to see Terri so they do, but at the sight of Terri's stitches, she runs out. Ashley then reveals that she will be leaving Degrassi as she believes that it is cursed. Spinner thinks that she is nuts, but Paige gets fed up and tells her to enjoy life and loosen up. Ashley takes Paige's advice and enters an Elvis Presley impersonation competition and wins third prize. Ashley then decides to stay at Degrassi. Season 4 During Craig's birthday at the beginning of the year and when Ashley sees him, she runs away as she still has feelings for him. However, the next day she apologizes and they begin a friendship. Craig reveals that his dad left him 16,000 dollars and he wants to buy a guitar with it. Ashley helps him pick it out, but this gets him into trouble with Joey and he ends up using all his money. Ashley begins to give Craig advice about his band and helps him perform better. Impressed that she has more musical knowledge than his other band-mates, he asks her to join. She plays with them at a Spirit Squad car wash and she seems jealous when he looks at Manny. After the school shooting, Ashley is in shock and at home she calls the shooter, Rick, a "psycho" although ironically she's heard of him, but never met him in person. Emma stands up for Rick and surprises Ashley, saying that he was Toby's friend. Whilst Ashley's keyboarding did improve the band, Marco and Spinner feel she is stealing the spotlight. When they are asked to record a demo for a record label, something they were asked to do one year prior, the problems become more prevalent. Spinner and Marco then make their own additions to the band, by having Manny on the tambourine and Marco on the accordion. In a band meeting without Ashley, Craig decides that he has to cut her and tells her so before the demo. However, after their first song, Craig runs out and tells Ashley that he loves her and it has always been her. Surprisingly, Ashley takes him back. Days before Ashley's father's wedding, she and Craig have sex but he begins to act jealous and paranoid all the time. At the pre-wedding party, Craig proposes to Ashley and, in shock, she refuses.In a rage, Craig cries and trashes his hotel room, leaving Joey with the bill. But the next day, she calls him up and says that one day she would love to . Craig was relieved, but Ashley warned him not to mention it at the wedding. He does and gets into a fight with her dad. Ashley and Joey are both concerned and when Craig begins to beat up Joey, Ashley calms him down and he is suddenly happy and confused about Joey, so she takes him to the hospital. He is diagnosed as having bi-polar disoder, but Ashley and his family stand by him. Ashley begins focusing too much on Craig's disorder though and he feels as if it's the only thing they ever talk about. Ashley tries to get Craig to join a support group and he does it for her, but he is enraged when he discovers it is the same group that Ellie attends. Ellie manages to diffuse the situation and Craig tells Ashley that he wants to be her boyfriend, not some crazy guy that she has to save all the time. However, Ashley becomes stressed and decides to move to England for the Summer with her father for a break, but not break up with Craig. Craig tries to get her to stay by writing the music for Kevin Smith's new film, "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?", but she refuses. Craig feels abandoned and goes off his medication. Joey calms him down though, and he is okay in the end. Season 5 At the beginning of the season, Ashley has stopped contacting Craig, which upsets him more than he lets on. She sends an email to Ellie, who has become Craig's best friend over the summer, and says that she will be staying in England for the year and is dumping Craig because she has found someone else in England, Ali. Ellie breaks the news to Craig on his brithday, which causes a rift but they reunite. Ashley returns to Degrassi in the finale, and is a lot happier, carefree and kinder. Craig is also back from Vancouver, but he keeps his distance from her as he has moved onto Manny. Jimmy confides in Ashley that he likes Ellie and when the letter says she is crushing on someone, Ashley tries to push them together. However, Ellie admits she likes Craig and only loves Jimmy as a friend, so he leaves. Jimmy then thanks Ashley but says that no one wants to date a guy in a wheelchair, she stops him and kisses him, rekindeling their middle school romance. Season 6 After Ashley's return from England, Jimmy and Ashley saw old love in each other. However, after attempting to take a step forward with sexual relations, Jimmy realized that his physical damage has made it hard for him to get an erection. He attempted to take these further by taking pills for erectile dysfunction. Despite taking the medicine, Jimmy's erections still failed. This frustrated Jimmy to the point that he said he no longer wanted to see Ashley. Despite this, Ashley said she still wants to be with him, and found other ways to show each other love. Also, in a season six deleted scene, Jimmy was shown searching the internet on the anatomy of the penis, due to his erectile dysfunctioning. The website showed how males achieve an erection in their penis by giving a diagram from flaccid to erect state. Spinner's renewed friendship with Jimmy is tested when the two begin selling t-shirts that Jimmy designed. Jimmy is unsure if they had made the right move. Luckily however, the venture takes off and does surprisingly well in the beginning. Spinner and Jimmy open a store with money from Jimmy's academic fund while Marco, Ashley, Paige, Ellie and Dylan stand by their side for support. Their store is later robbed and Spinner saves Jimmy from harm, and the robbery incident further cements Spinner and Jimmy's friendship. The two decide to keep the business going, and they hire Paige as their business manager. Ashley also tries to support Ellie when she is preparing to have sex with Jesse and through her relationship with him. Ashley is also seen at J.T. Yorke's memorial service talking to Ellie about her sorrow for Mia and the loss of her boyfriend, J.T. Season 7 When Craig's CD finally came out, and Ashley found out that he didn't credit her for one of the songs used. Jimmy was happy that he was mentioned in the shout-outs, but the album inspired Ashley to go back into music. Ashley wanted Jimmy to follow her on her dreams, so he wrote a rap to perform with her. She decided to write Jimmy out of the song, and to go on stage alone. When she performed, the crowd yelled for her to play a song by Craig. Jimmy saved her by going onto the stage with his rap. Ashley thought that people only saw her as Craig's ex-sidekick, and she didn't want to be Jimmy's, but she still encouraged him to pursue a music career. Griffin, Ellie's new roommate, heard the track and asked Jimmy to perform at a show. Jimmy still wanted Ashley there with him, but she stepped aside so Jimmy could get the spotlight. Griffin showed their work to a producer, and asked them both to make a demo. Jimmy was excited about his opportunity and asked Ashley to manage it. Ashley ended up deleting Jimmy's rap and sent the producer just her song instead. When Jimmy found out Ashley deleted his rap of the demo, Jimmy became upset and called her his "biggest disappointment". At the clinic, Jimmy meets a girl named Trina who inspires him to keep trying to walk. After Trina convinces Jimmy to drive, he realizes he has feelings for her, which leads to his break-up with Ashley. Later, he finds Trina has signed up for stem cell surgery and she convinces him to do the same. After recently being accepted to Hudson University to study law like his father, he decides to use his grant money to pay for the surgery. However, his father doesn't approve and tells him to wait a few years for research into stem cells to advance. But after catching his father having an affair, Jimmy questions himself for trying to live up to a man who didn't have any standards himself. After a confrontation with his father, Jimmy decides to go through with the surgery and at dinner that night, he tells his parents he wants to go to Amsterdam with Trina and have the surgery done as soon as possible, but doesn't tell his mother about his father's infidelity. After this, he begins spending more and more time with Trina. Jimmy becomes tired of relying on Ashley for everything, and when Trina tells him about stem cell surgery he is caught between two girls. He eventually choses Trina and is distant to Ashley afterwards. Ashley later gets tickets to a Purple Dragon concert Craig is performing at over spring break and invites Emma, Liberty and Manny, who she has since made a truce with, to come. Jimmy is in ill-will to her at the concert but she is happy and informs him that she will be touring with Craig, who she goes up onstage to join. Mentions Ashley doesn't appear in season 8, but in Degrassi Goes Hollywood, Craig informs Ellie that when he and Ashley went to England she decided to stay behind while he returned to Los Angeles. Ashley doesn't appear until the end of season 5, but in Our Lips Are Sealed (2), Hazel mentions to Alex that if you want to know how Paige can freeze people out, phone up Ashley Kerwin. Trivia *Both Ashley and her best friend, Ellie, have been in a love triangle including Craig and Manny. *Most of Ashley's screen-time was present in season 1. *Ashley lost her virginity to Craig in Season 4, when she was a junior at the age of 16. *Both Ashley and her best friend Ellie have either kissed, dated, or flirted with Jimmy, Craig, and Sean. *Ashley and Jimmy are tied with Sav and Anya for most relationships with each other on Degrassi, both with 4 times. Relationships *Jimmy Brooks **First Relationship: ***Start up: 8 months before Family Politics (103) ***Broke Up:' Coming of Age' (109) ****Reason: Ashley felt suffocated. **Second Relationship: ***Start Up: Coming of Age (109) ***Break Up: Jagged Little Pill '(115) ****Reson: Ashley cheated on him with Sean. **Third Relationship: ***Start Up: 'Message in a Bottle (216) ***Broke Up: Dressed in Black (218) ****Reason: Ashley believes that Jimmy preferred the "old" her rather than the new her. **Fourth Relationship: ***Start Up: High Fidelity (2) (519) ***Broke Up: Live to Tell (712) ****Reason: Jimmy developed feelings for Trina. *Craig Manning **First Relationship: ***Start Up: Tears Are Not Enough (2) (222) ***Broke Up: Holiday (2) (312) ****Reason: Craig cheated on Ashley with Manny. **Second Relationship: ***Start Up: Neutron Dance (410) ***Broke Up: Venus (1) (501) ****Reason: Ashley began dating someone named Alister while in England. *Alister ** Start Up: Sometime before Venus (1) (501) ** Broke Up: Sometime before 'High Fidelity (2) '(519) *** Reason: Ashley claimed the relationship fizzled out. 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